The present invention relates generally to computer graphics, and particularly to a system and method for displaying images using anamorphic video.
In robotic telepresence, a remotely controlled robot simulates the presence of a user. The overall experience for the user and the people interacting with the robotic telepresence device is similar to videoconferencing, except that the user has a freedom of motion and control over the robot and video input that is not present in traditional videoconferencing. The robot platform typically includes a camera, a display device, a motorized platform that includes batteries, a control computer, and a wireless computer network connection. An image of the user is displayed on the robotic telepresence device""s display. This image is captured by a camera at the user""s location.
In one prior art approach, a robotic device is built on a remote controlled car. However, driving the car remotely is considerably more difficult than personally walking through the same area. The robotic device uses a single small camera with a relatively small field of view and low resolution. This device shares problems with videoconferencing in that the user has xe2x80x9ctunnel vision.xe2x80x9d The user is not provided with a peripheral view of the environment as compared to human peripheral vision. In addition, the central resolution of the remote camera is much lower than that of the human eye, which makes it difficult to remotely read anything other than very large text.
Therefore, there is a need for a method and apparatus that provides a large field of view which can be used in a robotic telepresence device. There is also a need for a method and apparatus to improve the resolution of the received images.
A method displays an image using a novel technique called anamorphic video. In anamorphic video, a first portion of an image is displayed on a display at a first scale. At least one second portion of the image is displayed on the display. The at least one second portion is adjacent the first portion. The at least one second side portion is displayed at a second scale higher than the first scale.
In one aspect of the invention, first portion of the image is a center portion. The at least one second side portion is a side portion of the image and includes the second side portion and a third side portion. The second and third side portions are displayed adjacent to the first portion.
In another aspect of the invention, a computer system displays information using anamorphic video. In yet another aspect of the invention, a computer program product embodies the method of displaying an image using anamorphic video.
In yet another alternate aspect of the invention, a robotic telepresence system displays information received from a robot at a user station using anamorphic video.
By displaying an image using anamorphic video, a user station provides a peripheral view of the environment that meets or exceeds that of human peripheral vision. Alternately, the user station includes an immersion room that provides a peripheral view of the environment that meets or exceeds that of human peripheral vision. More particularly, the user station and immersion room are part of a robotic telepresence system.